Attention!!

You know when you have one of those days where you feel that you have tried EVERYTHING and you still can not get their attention?  Well, wait no longer...

I use these Attention Grabbers  EVERYDAY in my kindergarten classroom.  I feel that my classroom management has improved with these as well as the use of Whole Brain Teaching techniques.

What is your "go to" classroom management resource?

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie

Reflection and Look Ahead

The past week has been full of fun and exciting educational activities.  There are a few activities that I want to highlight.

This year, parent gifts were so much fun to make.  I had two parent helpers come in to help students with gifts.  Each child made peppermint ornaments using candy peppermints and cookie cutters.  I will say that it took a few times to try and adjust.  When making these peppermint ornaments, be sure to spray each cookie cutter before placing on the cookie sheet.  Then place them in the oven and bake at 350` for about 3-4 minutes.  You must take the peppermints out when they are still "soft".  Use a toothpick to place a hole at the top of the ornament.

We also celebrated Grinch Day.  Students and teachers wore green to celebrate Grinch Day.  I found many free resources to use to teach the kiddos about kindness.

Each year, I consider doing a traditional gift exchange.  However, I always end up doing a book exchange.  It is great and parents love the simplicity.  The girls purchase a girl book and boys buy a boy book.  Everyone leaves with a book.  I set the book price limit at $3.

After a few days of relaxation and Christmas with my family, I will begin to plan for January.

Here are a few of the products that I will be using.  I am offering them at a discounted price until after Christmas.  Enjoy.

Catching Snowflakes (Literacy Resources) and Craftivity includes several writing graphic organizers for your primary learners. Students will be able to showcase their creative writing with the craftivity. Your hallway will have a great display for the holidays and throughout the winter. This packet is for kindergarten, first and second grades.
 
This packet suggests the following books to accompany this unit:

Winter is for Snow by Robert Neubecker 

Stella (Queen of the Snow) by Marie Louise Gay  

Millions of Snowflakes by Mary McKenna Siddals 

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassino
 
There is also a craftivity to make with your writing. I saw the idea on http://artisandesarts.blogspot.com/2013/01/catching-snowflakes-grade-3.html . I teach kindergarten and really needed templates to pull this off. Therefore, I created some templates so that others are able to create this with their young and eager learners.

I will also be teaching about Arctic animals.  Here are some resources I will use.  They are also discounted until Christmas.

Are you looking for simple emergent readers for your kinders to go with a unit on polar bears, penguins, walruses or seals? These emergent reader texts include easy to read sight words and a repetitive pattern for your emerging readers. All pages, images and text are black and white to save on ink. Page numbers are on each page. Each reader is sold separately in my store.

This no-prep literature study is great for the month of January. Students love the story of "Snowmen at Work" and "Snowmen at Night".
Included in this packet are no-prep printables and interactive journal pages that will keep your students engaged and excited! Also included are writing prompt pages and covers for class books! This unit is great for that busy time of the year and for last minute sub activities!

I hope you can grab these at the discounted price.

Merry Christmas,
Stephanie

Secret Santa Blog Hop!

Here's a little freebie from me to you!  Use these printables for number sense, graphing, number order, sentence editing, ABC order, and digraphs!  They are a (bonus) sampler from my Winter Printables packet!  So if you have already purchased it, these sheets are a bonus to that pack so make sure to download them!

If you like what you see, you can download the full packet by clicking below!

Head on over to The Elementary Entourage to check out more posts with more great Secret Santa freebies!

It's Reindeer Time

One of my favorite topics to teach during this time of year is REINDEER!!  The kids get so excited about reindeer and so do I!!  There are so many units that I use to teach my kindergarten kiddos about Reindeer.  Here are a few of the units that I feel tie it all in to make for a great week (or if you're like me... 2 weeks).

I do use fiction and nonfiction pieces to teach about reindeer.

I used this nonfiction unit by All Students Can Shine.  It is a fabulous resources that includes excellent illustrations and detailed pictures about reindeer facts.  I can not say enough about this product!!  Valerie also includes a Reindeer Facts reader in this packet.  My little ones learned so much from this unit.  Valerie also has many neat ideas and insight on her blog, All Students Can Shine.

My colleague, Stephany Dillon, introduced me to one of her favorite books.  Olive, The Other Reindeer is an excellent story to read this time of year.  Stephany's no-prep literature study for Olive, The Other Reindeer is great for the month of December.  Students love the story of "Olive the Other Reindeer" and her adventures with Santa and his team of reindeer!
Included in this packet are no-prep printables and interactive journal pages that will keep your students engaged and excited! Also included are writing prompt pages and covers for class books.  This unit is great for that busy time of the year and for last minute sub activities.  In fact, I used it as my substitute plans this week.  I am out one day this week and this "Print and Plan Pack" was excellent!

The next product I use during my two weeks of reindeer is the following emergent reader text.  Oh Dear, Reindeer is a simple emergent reader text to accompany my reindeer week.  This fun emergent reader text includes easy to read sight words and a repetitive pattern for your emerging readers. All pages, images and text are black and white to save on ink. Page numbers are on each page.

I also created All About Reindeer, Reindeer Facts Graphic Organizers.  Reindeer Facts includes the following graphic organizers to teach your early readers about reindeer. Venn Diagram, KWL Chart, Main Idea/Details, Bubble Map, Can, Have, Are, Facts, Vocabulary Sheet, and Class Book Cove.

 
A Cupcake for the Teacher created this adorable product.  I am using the writing pages to go along with our Rudolph's changing nose colors.  The pages in this writing craftivity are perfect for kindergarten students.  The easy to write on lines and spacing is what I love most about this product.... AND the cutest craftivity too of course!!  (We haven't made the craftivity yet, it will be the last day to wrap up our unit.)

I have a few puzzles with missing pieces.  I decided to make this reindeer ornament.  I will say I probably could have used an extra hand during the gluing part.  I had glue everywhere!

Here are some more reindeer themed pictures from my kindergarten classroom.

 
I can not wait to finish up reindeer this week.  Then, I am moving on to The Gingerbread Man...  another one of my favorite stories during December.

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie

Unwrap a Gift!

It's the time of year for giving and this linky is just right for that!  I am excited to share with you a Christmas printable freebie!   Don't forget to follow my store while you are over there so you can stay connected!)

You can get printables like this in my other printables packets!  I just posted the Winter Printables packet.  There are math skills pages, ELA pages, and themed writing pages in each packet!

I also have Spring & Fall printable packets available....

You can also grab up more printables packs by skill or season by clicking on the picture below!  All of my printables will be on sale this weekend for 20% off!

Make sure you head on back to The Primary Gal to check out all of the other bloggers who have linked up to share a gift with you! Click on the button below!

Stephany

Super Cyber Sale... What's in your cart?

I am so excited for the TpT Cyber Sale!  There are so many new products out there that I am dying to get my hands on!  Here is what is new in my store, some of what I plan on purchasing, and my SUPER CYBER DEAL for the sale!

Roll, Add, and Color Set #1

Roll, Add, and Color Set #2

Roll, Add, and Color BUNDLE

When An Elf Visits

Digraph (wh, sh, ch, th) Printables and Activities

Mitten Math

Winter Break Brain Boost

Winter Interactive Journal Supplements

Poem of the Week from Proud to Be Primary

Place Value Interactive Notebook From Lucky Little Learners

Grab and Graph From Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten

Fixin' Up Sentences- Spring Edition from Stephanie Chambers

Ultimate ABC Order Word Work from Primary Gal

This product is a bundle of 15 Whole Class Writing Journal products.... This bundle is over a 50% savings during the sale!  Grab it up!

The sellers below have some SUPER CYBER DEALS for you too!  Go check out their posts to see what's new, what they are grabbing up, and what their SUPER CYBER DEAL is!

An InLinkz Link-up

Load Up Your Cart!

The big Cyber Monday (and Tuesday) sale at TpT is just around the corner!  I know I am filling up my cart today and then checking out Monday for up to 28% off (REMEMBER TO USE THE CODE TPTCYBER!!)    You can shop from the TpT stores listed below... ALL of them will be 20% off!

An InLinkz Link-up

Black Friday Dollar Deals

Hopefully you survived the early morning rush of Black Friday...or you're like me and you stayed home... either way, here are some Black Friday DOLLAR DEALS for you from some of your favorite TpT sellers! All products are a dollar Friday and Saturday. So curl up with a cup of hot chocolate, avoid the lines and grab up some Dollar Deals!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanksgiving Feast and Celebrating with Enchanted in Kindergarten!

We had a Thanksgiving Feast today in first grade!  It was a great way to end the week (and start a break!)

We have also had fun this week using this punctuation packet from Alisha over at Missing Tooth Grins!  Lots of different ways to practice statement and question sentences!  Go check it out!

Also, Keri is having a huge celebration giveaway for her birthday! We are joining up with her and many other bloggers to offer some great giveaway prizes! Just enter the rafflecopter at the end of the post for a chance to win!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway